By Tolit Ivan
Gulu High Court Circuit has finally gazetted a room to solve witness safety problems they have been grappling with for a long period of time.
For decades, many victims of different crimes and witnesses who live in close-knit communities alongside alleged perpetrators of horrific crimes have been made to testify without proper protection due to poor witness protection mechanisms.
Phillip Odoki, the Gulu High Court Judge, said they found it necessary to gazette a room within the court premises for victims and witnesses for safety reasons during trials.
According to Odoki, a number of cases, especially sexual gender based violence and some capital offenses have failed because of witnesses and victims refusing to testify in public during court sessions in fear of the perpetrators despite having all the credible evidence to pin the alleged perpetrators.
